1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for measuring a force required for stripping a cover tape which is adhered to a receiving tape in a tape package which contains small components such as chip components.
2. Description of the Background Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,298,120 granted to Kaneko et al. discloses a tape package containing chip-type electronic components. This tape package comprises a receiving tape which is provided with a plurality of cavities distributed along its longitudinal direction for receiving the components, and a cover tape which is adhered to the receiving tape for closing the cavities receiving the components. The receiving tape is generally prepared from a cardboard material, and the cavities are provided by perforations defined in such a cardboard material. Thus, the cavities form openings on both surfaces of the receiving tape such that first ones of the openings are closed by a bottom tape which is adhered to the receiving tape while second ones are closed by the cover tape after the components are received in the cavities. The cover tape is formed by a sheet which is prepared from thermoplastic resin, for example, and adhered to the receiving tape by a heat seal method on both side edges thereof.
In such a conventional tape package, it is necessary to properly set the force required for stripping the cover tape, giving due consideration to secure maintenance of the packed components and operability of the process of extracting the packed components. To this end, it is suitable to extract a number of samples to measure the force required for stripping the cover tape.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 196645/1985 entitled "Method of Measuring Force for Stripping Adhered Tape and Apparatus Therefor" proposes a method and an apparatus for automatically measuring such force for stripping an adhered tape.
According to this method, a cover tape is stripped at a prescribed stripping angle from an end of a linearly held tape package and the forward end of the cover tape is moved at a constant speed along a locus of linear movement which is at an angle half the stripping angle with, respect to the tape package, thereby to measure the tensile force acting on the forward end of the cover tape.
In the above method, however, it is necessary to cut off a part of the tape package which is wound on a reel or the like, and fix the overall stub to a support, which is a with troublesome operation. Further, the stub must be securely fixed to the support so that the same is not upwardly separated from the support to vary the stripping angle. Consequently, it takes time to replace the stub.
In addition, it is necessary to change the angle of the support as well as to horizontally move the support itself in order to change the stripping angle of the cover tape. Thus, a plurality of portions must be adjusted, which again is a troublesome operation.